SA Police website hacked by Anonymous

It is beyond belief that 16 000 whistle-blowers are today in fear for their lives because the SAPS promises of protection are worthless.

International activist group, Anonymous, tweeted that they had hacked the South African Police Service (SAPS) website on 16 May 2013 in response to the massacre of 34 protesting miners at Marikana.

They revealed the names and details of the whistle-blowers.

To add insult to injury, the SAPS were totally oblivious to this situation until the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) decided to inform them some six days after the fact.

This lax cyber-security at SAPS has put the lives of many, if not all, 16 000 whistle-blowers at risk.

“SAPS must immediately put in place a plan to protect all whistle-blowers involved and make very sure that they are protected from possible revenge attacks” said Dianne Kohler Barnard from the Democratic Alliance.

According to “Anonymous”, the SAPS website was hacked on 16 May 2013 in response to the massacre of 34 protesting miners at Marikana in August 2012.

Nearly 16 000 e-mails detailing incidents of serious crimes such rape, murder and robbery were made freely available to the public.

It is absolutely unacceptable that the SAPS failed to act immediately when the website security was breached leaving thousands of individuals’ safety at risk. This must not be allowed to happen again.